Panthers cut ties with Jonathan Stewart the right way

Panthers cut ties with Jonathan Stewart the right way

So far so good for Act 2 of the Marty Hurney era. Over the last few days, Hurney has cut three popular veterans, saving the Panthers nearly $10 million in cap room.

In the past, Hurney might have tried to give one or all of them a lucrative contract extension. It seems Hurney has learned from his past mistakes and has embraced a new, smarter way of managing Carolina’s roster.

Hurney also deserves credit for going about the moves in the right way.

According to a report by David Newton at ESPN, Hurney personally flew from Indianapolis to Charlotte to meet with Jonathan Stewart and tell him he was being cut in person as opposed to doing it over the phone.

Hurney also didn’t want to tell Stewart, who returned to Charlotte by plane on Wednesday morning, the news over the phone. He was so dedicated to personally delivering the tough news to the 30-year-old back that Hurney flew back to Charlotte from the NFL combine in Indianapolis so he could meet Stewart on Wednesday before flying back to the combine to continue that process.

Good on Hurney for treating Stewart with the proper respect after he faithfully served the organization for 10 years.

Even though former general manager Dave Gettleman mostly did a good job of not handing out overly-generous deals (Matt Kalil is one very notable exception to that rule), something he never seemed to grasp was that you can run a team like a business without alienating people or creating enemies. Former Panthers like Steve Smith, DeAngelo Williams and Josh Norman all celebrated when Gettleman was fired for a reason.

If Hurney can keep walking the fine line between ruthless cost-cutting and maintaining relationships with his players, it will be a great thing for the franchise in the long run.